Fantasy Football's Biggest Winners and Losers from NFL Week 14

It's Week 14 of the 2012 NFL season, which means that in a great many fantasy leagues we have bid adieu to the regular season and welcomed in the fantasy playoffs.

In the postseason, it's simple. Lose a game and you're toast, so huge performances are badly needed, and one faceplant can spell the end of the road for your fantasy squad.

Luckily for fantasy owners, there were a lot more of the former than the latter in Week 14, especially at running back and wide receiver. So let's take a look back at the explosions and implosions with fantasy football's best and worst from Week 14.

Cam Newton and the Winners at Quarterback

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Fantasy owners that were able to survive the early-season slump of Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton are reaping the rewards now, as the second-year pro appears to be breaking out of that funk at the best possible time.

Over Newton's past four games, he's scored 11 total touchdowns with zero turnovers, punctuated by Sunday's performance against the Atlanta Falcons where Newton threw for 287 yards and two touchdowns while pitching in 116 more yards and a score on the ground.

Drew Brees and the Losers at Quarterback

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If Cam Newton has picked the perfect time to break out his funk, then Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints picked the absolute worst time to start one.

Granted, Brees threw for 354 yards in Sunday's loss to the New York Giants, but he threw only one touchdown and two more interceptions, giving the 33-year-old an eye-popping nine picks over the past three games.

Marshawn Lynch and the Winners at Running Back

After watching Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson shred the Chicago Bears Sunday, I had a lovely little writeup all planned out for "All Day."

Then the late games started, and that plan got Skittled.

Marshawn Lynch was in full "Beast Mode" in Sunday's win over the hapless Arizona Cardinals, and by the time all was said and done, the seventh-year pro had racked up 128 rushing yards and three touchdowns while averaging over 10 yards a carry.

Bryce Brown and the Losers at Running Back

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Over the past two weeks, no running back in the NFL has scored more fantasy points than rookie Bryce Brown of the Philadelphia Eagles, who topped 150 yards on the ground and scored a pair of touchdowns in each of the last two games.

And then came Week 14.

Against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' top-ranked run defense, Brown experienced a fall from grace to rival Icarus, gaining all of six yards on 12 carries in a performance that probably ended more than a few fantasy seasons.

Brandon Marshall and the Winners at Wide Receiver

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It's been a long time coming, but for the first time in a decade, not only do the Chicago Bears have a 1,000-yard receiver but they have one of the most productive players in the National Football League at the position this season.

Seventh-year wide receiver Brandon Marshall trails only Detroit's Calvin Johnson in receiving yardage this year. Marshall added to that total while also reaching the 100 reception mark on the season with 10 grabs for 160 yards and a touchdown against the Minnesota Vikings.

Larry Fitzgerald and the Losers at Wide Receiver

The ninth-year veteran remains one of the most talented wideouts in the NFL, but stranded in the third circle of bad quarterback hell. Fitzgerald has struggled through one of the worst seasons of his career, as typified by his one catch for two yards in Arizona's blowout loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

Brandon Myers and the Losers at Tight End

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After the biggest game of his four-year NFL career, and with a top-five fantasy matchup on tap, Oakland Raiders tight end Brandon Myers was certainly in more than a few fantasy lineups for this week's matchup with the Denver Broncos.

Myers responded by catching all of one pass for seven yards, which undoubtedly led to quite a few of the teams that started him getting bounced from the fantasy playoffs.